Poland clamps down on Canfield shooters

February 21, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

By Steve Wilaj

CANFIELD

Ken Grisdale wasn’t particularly upset.

So when his team entered the locker room at halftime leading Canfield by six points on Friday, the Poland head coach was confused at what he saw.

“They came in and their heads were hanging like they were mad,” Grisdale said. “I was like, ‘Why are your heads hanging down?’ We’re up and they’re shooting lights-out. We’re fine.’”

Grisdale knows best.

The Bulldogs continued their own hot shooting into the second half and Canfield went cold as Poland defeated the Cardinals, 73-44, at James W. Watkins Gymnasium.

For the Bulldogs (19-2, 11-1), the victory completed a season sweep of Canfield (14-8, 6-6) and also clinched a share of the All-American Conference Red Tier championship.

“It means a lot,” Grisdale said. “We voluntarily bumped up a tier. We wanted that competition and right now we’re used to that intensity and physicality.”

Leading 40-34 at the break, Poland increased its defensive intensity in the final two quarters as it held the Cardinals to just 10 second-half points. Canfield — which trailed 55-41 after three quarters — made just three field goals in the second half. They all came in the third quarter.

“We knew if we were gonna win this game, we needed to get stops,” Poland senior guard Kyle Dixon said. “Once we commit to doing that, we can be a very good team.

“Sometimes this year we think that because we’re shooting well that we’re playing well. But that’s not always the case because you still have to get stops down at the defensive end.”

The Bulldogs certainly did it all against the Cardinals. They connected on 12 of 20 3-pointers and finished 28 of 47 (59 percent) from the field for the entire contest.

“We’ve been a good shooting team throughout the whole year,” said Dixon, who paced Poland with 17 points. “One through 11 — however many guys we play — can shoot it.”

Jared Burkert added 15 points for the Bulldogs. Nick Gajdos scored 12, Matt Baker notched nine points and Mike Gajdos scored eight.

Mason Mangapora and Mike Yourstowsky each scored 13 points for Canfield.

“I thought Canfield shot the ball really well in the first half,” Grisdale said. “So I thought if we could just stay sound and stay solid and keep scoring, we could slow them down a little bit. In the second half we played a lot of zone, which kept us on their shooters.”

The Cardinals connected on 5 of 9 3-pointers in the first half. However, they finished 6 of 15 from behind the arc and 15 of 45 (33 percent) overall.

“We were hitting some shots [in the first half] that really haven’t been falling earlier in the year,” Canfield coach Todd Muckleroy said. “So that six-point lead was a little bit jaded, but that’s what kept us close. But those weren’t gonna fall forever.

“We didn’t play real well offensively and they played really well defensively and that’s the common denominator when you look at the second half.”